Meet VMP Covergirl is……Vivana Altieri! 🎉
Born in Rome, Viviana brings her love of Italy to Pittsburgh through Istituto Mondo Italiano, The Italian Radio Hour, Italian cooking classes, and an import store filled with treasures from all over Italy. She has built so many ways for people to discover her country, connect with their heritage, and experience a little more of what makes Italy special.
And yes, she brought some fabulous Italian designer clothes to her session. Viviana makes a stylish entrance wherever she goes, and photographing her was every bit as lively as you might imagine. Naturally, we also found ourselves chatting about Rome and my daughter’s life in Italy. There was plenty to talk about!
What I especially loved in her interview was what she hopes people will remember about her. Alongside everything she has created, she would most like someone to say, “She opened a door for me.” That might mean introducing two people, encouraging someone to learn Italian, or making someone feel welcome when they didn’t know anyone in the room.
When she looks at her portraits, she sees that same appetite for life:
“If the camera can capture that sparkle in my eyes, then perhaps it is capturing the most important part of me—the part that is still curious, still dreaming, and still very hungry for life.”
Viviana, that sparkle was a joy to photograph. Here’s to everything you’ve built, the connections you continue to make, and all the adventures still ahead. Salute! 🥂
On November 5th, Vivana will be one of the 50 women featured in our second 50over50 exhibition as we celebrate all 100 women photographed over the course of this six-year project. Get your tickets here
Here's what Vivana had to say about this season of her life...
💎 Did you have any older female role models when you were younger?
My mother was, first and foremost, the most important female role model in my life. She was a well respected pediatrician, and a deeply loving and supportive mother. She showed me that a woman could have a meaningful professional life while also being profoundly devoted to the people she loved.
Perhaps the greatest gift she gave me was the freedom to build my own life. When I moved to the United States, she never made me feel guilty for leaving or for choosing a path that took me so far away from her. Looking back, I realize how much that must have cost her emotionally. Quietly, she probably suffered from not being able to watch her “baby” on a daily basis grow into a woman, an entrepreneur, a community builder, and eventually a wife. Sadly, she passed away before I got married, and I often wish she could have witnessed that chapter of my life.
Her advice was not always delivered in words. Much of what she taught me came from the way she lived: work hard, care deeply, give people room to become who they are, and never make love feel like an obligation. She supported me beyond her own needs, and that lesson has stayed with me throughout my life.
My mother and I connected on so many levels, and even today, one of the greatest compliments anyone can give me is, “You are like your mother,” or “You look like your mother.” I cherish those words because they make me feel that a part of her continues to live through me. If I have inherited even some of her strength, intelligence, generosity, and capacity to love, then I consider myself incredibly fortunate.
💎 How did you mark turning 50? How did that feel to you?
Turning 50 was actually quite uneventful. It happened during COVID, so it almost completely flew under the radar. I couldn’t go back to Italy to celebrate with my family, and there was no big party or defining moment attached to it.
But perhaps that suited me, because I’ve never really believed that a number or a particular age should be treated as a milestone. I don’t think turning 40, 50, or 60 suddenly makes us wiser, more accomplished, or more worthy of celebration. Life doesn’t happen in decade increments.
To me, the real milestones are much smaller and much more meaningful. Every day we wake up and have an opportunity to do something that matters, to help someone, improve our community, create something, open a door for another person, or simply leave our little corner of the world better than we found it, is worth celebrating.
So, while my 50th birthday itself was very quiet, I didn’t feel that I had missed an important celebration. I would rather celebrate a life that continues to be lived with purpose, curiosity, and enthusiasm than celebrate the number of candles on a cake.
💎 What advice would you give your younger self?
I’m torn about this question because part of me would tell my younger self, “Don’t change anything. Keep going.” Continue to live fully, keep your heart open, stay curious, and never stop learning.
Of course, there are moments when I wish life came with an instruction manual—something that told you which decisions were right, which people to trust, which battles were worth fighting, and which disappointments would eventually turn out to be blessings. But then I wonder: would I really want to know how the movie ends? Probably not. So much of life’s beauty is in not knowing what comes next and discovering along the way what you are capable of.
I’m a Sagittarius, represented by the centaur—half human, half horse—and I actually see a little life lesson in that: learn to balance logic with instinct. Think things through, but also trust your gut. Some of my most important decisions may not have made perfect sense on paper, but something inside me knew which direction to take.
And finally, I would tell my younger self something I still remind myself today: good people don’t always finish first. Sometimes integrity costs you something. Sometimes hard work isn’t immediately rewarded, and sometimes life simply isn’t fair. Don’t let that change who you are. Believe in yourself, keep moving forward, and never allow disappointment to make your heart smaller.
Actually, maybe I wouldn’t give my younger self a manual after all. I’d just tell her: Trust yourself. You’ll figure it out.
💎 Do you feel like you've changed since you've turned 50?
I don’t think my values fundamentally changed when I turned 50, but perhaps my understanding of what it means to take care of myself became broader.
Of course, you notice the nth wrinkle on your face, or realize that the appointment with your hairdresser that once happened every three months now needs to happen every four weeks! You know what I mean. But I think the important thing is to treat yourself well and with dignity as you age, rather than constantly fighting against it. I still enjoy looking good, dressing well, and taking care of my appearance. That hasn’t changed.
I have also been very blessed to have a wonderful husband who sees me every day for who I am, whether I’m standing in the kitchen in the morning with ruffled hair or walking beside him in a glamorous gown. There are no expectations that I need to look a certain way in order to be beautiful to him, and I think that kind of acceptance is incredibly important.
What has changed, perhaps, is that I pay more attention to the other things that make me feel attractive, fulfilled, and whole. Feeling rooted. Having good friends around me. Being intellectually curious. Feeling useful and connected to my community. Laughing. Traveling. Learning. And always being able to find joy in the little things.
So yes, I still care about the woman I see in the mirror, but I’ve learned that she is only one part of the picture. Feeling good about yourself has as much to do with the life you build around you as it does with how you look.
💎 What positives have come from being over 50?
What has surprised me most about this stage of life is the clarity that comes with it. I know my worth now, and that is incredibly liberating.
Professionally, I’ve learned that not every opportunity is a good opportunity. I can say no. If a project requires me to spend an enormous amount of energy trying to please people who simply cannot be pleased, I can recognize that the aggravation may not be worth the money that comes with it. When you are younger, you sometimes feel you have to prove yourself, accommodate everyone, or say yes because you’re afraid another opportunity may not come along. At this stage, I know what I bring to the table, and I’m much more selective about where I invest my time and energy.
Personally, I feel I can devote more of myself to the things that have long-term meaning, to relationships, friendships, my community, the work I want to leave behind, and, of course, continuing to experience the world with curiosity.
Perhaps that is one of the greatest positives of being over 50: you become much more conscious that time and energy are valuable currencies, and you get better at deciding how, and with whom, you want to spend them.
But let’s not make this sound like I’m looking back on my life from a rocking chair! I’m still in my 50s. There is plenty of road ahead, and I’m very curious to see where it takes me.
💎 Do you have any goals or projects you're working on? What dreams do you have for the future?
Absolutely! Otherwise, I wouldn’t be a true Sagittarius—there always has to be another adventure on the horizon.
I’ll reveal a little secret: this summer, I purchased a home in Abruzzo, Italy. And yes, I am 100% Roman, so even I didn’t necessarily see that one coming!
But the house is already becoming part of a much bigger dream. I’m developing plans to create small, meaningful experiences for people who want to discover Italy beyond the usual itinerary—to slow down, meet the locals, participate in traditions, sit around a table together, hear the stories of a place, and experience the Italy that you don’t always find in a guidebook.
I’ve already given this new adventure a name: “Under the Abruzzese Sun.” It brings together so many things I love—Italy, culture, people, travel, storytelling, and creating connections.
And perhaps that is another wonderful thing about being in my 50s: I’m certainly not running out of dreams. If anything, I keep finding new ones.
So… who wants to join me under the Abruzzese sun?
💎 What is your best advice for other women who are coming up on turning 50? What do you 'know' now?
Life happens fast. That may be the biggest thing I know now that I didn’t fully understand when I was younger. In your 20s, sometimes it feels as though time can’t pass quickly enough, you’re waiting for the next job, the next relationship, the next adventure, the next chapter. And then suddenly you realize just how quickly those chapters accumulate.
So, to women approaching 50, I would say: do some planning, but leave plenty of room for the unexpected. Have goals, save for the future, take care of yourself, but don’t become so focused on preparing for tomorrow that you forget to live today. Experiment. Change your mind. Learn something completely new. Take chances in your career and in your relationships. Some will work out beautifully and some won’t, but both will teach you something.
And yes, there are some physiological realities we simply cannot negotiate with. Our bodies change. Our energy may change. The mirror changes. I don’t think there is anything wrong with acknowledging that, or with doing whatever makes you feel good about yourself. But don't confuse getting older with becoming less relevant, less interesting, less attractive, or less capable. Those are very different things.
If anything, by 50 you have accumulated something extraordinarily valuable: perspective. You know yourself better. You recover from disappointments faster because you know they eventually pass. You become more selective about the people you surround yourself with and the things that deserve your energy. And hopefully, you become a little less concerned with what everyone else thinks.
So I wouldn’t tell another woman how she should approach 50. I would simply say: don’t be afraid of it. Keep planning, keep experimenting, keep taking chances, and never become so comfortable that you stop surprising yourself.
💎 What do you most want people to remember about you?
I hope they say that I lived fully, that I was curious about the world and genuinely interested in the people I met along the way.
Professionally, of course, I hope some of the things I have built will endure. I am proud of creating Istituto Mondo Italiano, of promoting Italian language and culture, of The Italian Radio Hour, and of the many programs, partnerships, and initiatives that have grown from ideas that at one point existed only in my head. But I don’t think I want my story to be told as a list of accomplishments.
I would much rather hear someone say, “She opened a door for me.” Maybe I introduced two people who went on to create something together. Maybe I encouraged someone to learn Italian, reconnect with their heritage, travel somewhere they would never have discovered on their own, or take a chance on an opportunity. Maybe I made someone feel welcome when they didn’t know anyone in the room. To me, building community has never been about gathering people around me; it has been about bringing people together and seeing what can happen from those connections.
I also hope they say that I wasn't afraid to start things, even when there was no guarantee they would succeed. That I worked hard, occasionally challenged the status quo, made mistakes, laughed a lot, remained curious, and never lost my appetite for what might come next.
And on a personal level, I hope they remember that I loved generously, my husband, my family, my friends, my community, my Italy, and that I showed up when it mattered.
Perhaps, in the end, I would like my story to be very simple: She left more connections than divisions, more open doors than closed ones, and wherever she went, she tried to leave things a little better, and a lot more interesting, than she found them.
💎 Why are beautiful photos important to you right now?
Beautiful photos are important to me right now because, in some of them, I can actually see the sparkle in my eyes, and I love that. It captures something that has very little to do with looking younger or trying to create a perfect image. It captures how I feel about life.
I actually wish I had been a little more prepared to embrace this experience from the beginning. Initially, I thought of it simply as “having some beautiful pictures taken.” Instead, the whole process has turned into another learning experience, and I’m loving it.
There is something interesting about allowing yourself to be photographed at this stage of life. Like many women, I can immediately spot the things I might want to change: a wrinkle, an angle, something that isn't quite where it used to be! But then I look again and see something else. I see confidence. I see experience. I see a woman who has lived, traveled, loved, built things, taken risks, succeeded, failed, started over, and still gets excited about what might be around the next corner.
Maybe that is what I want these photographs to preserve. Not a younger version of myself and certainly not a perfect one, but this version of myself.
And if the camera can capture that sparkle in my eyes, then perhaps it is capturing the most important part of me, the part that is still curious, still dreaming, and still very hungry for life.
💎 Was there a moment in your life that changed everything for you?
Absolutely. It all started with a $100 bet.
While I was studying at the University of Moscow, I met two students from Duquesne University. A few months after the semester ended, they were sponsored to attend a conference in Rome, where I was living at the time. Naturally, I took them around and gave them a taste of some of the finest Italian hospitality.
The night before they left—which also happened to be the night before I had to defend my thesis at the University of Rome—they thanked me and said, “Why don’t you come visit us in Pittsburgh?”
I hesitated for maybe five seconds. Honestly, I didn’t even know where Pittsburgh was! Apparently, those five seconds were enough for one of them to challenge me: “I bet you $100 you’ll never leave your mamma.”
Wrong thing to say to me.
I was born with itchy feet and a passion for travel. In fact, poor Mamma was going to lose me anyway: I had already been offered a job at a university in Dublin. I had studied in Ireland and was completely enamored with everything Irish. I baked scones every week, invited my girlfriends over for Irish coffee—I made a mean Irish coffee, by the way—and even attempted what I thought was a very convincing Irish accent!
But that $100 bet changed the direction of my life.
In 1993, I came to Pittsburgh. And Pittsburgh welcomed this Roman girl with a blizzard—thank you very much! I even learned how to use my stiletto heels as ice picks!
I will never forget my friends picking me up at the airport that evening and driving me into the city. We came through the Fort Pitt Tunnel and suddenly, there it was: Pittsburgh's skyline illuminated in front of me. That view took my breath away. More than three decades later, I still feel something every time I emerge from that tunnel and see the city appear.
What was supposed to be a visit became my home. Pittsburgh is where I built my career, became an entrepreneur, created a community, found friendships and love, and built a life I could never have imagined during those five seconds of hesitation in Rome.
And by the way, I have never seen that $100.
But considering the people I have met and the life that one bet set in motion, I think I collected something worth considerably more. I met people worth their weight in gold.
So, in the end, I suppose I won the bet. And I feel incredibly rich.
💎 What is something you believe about women over 50 that you wish more people understood?
We are human, and whether we admit it or not, we often judge the book by its cover. We live in a world where novelty can be more appealing than wisdom, where youth gets attention, and where sometimes a recent college graduate can seem more desirable than someone bringing 30 years of experience to the table.
What I wish more people understood is that women over 50 are not becoming less of anything. In many ways, we are becoming more. We have accumulated experience, perspective, resilience, stories, professional knowledge, relationships, and a much clearer understanding of who we are. We’ve made mistakes and, hopefully, learned from them. We know which battles are worth fighting and which ones aren't worth ruining a perfectly good day over.
And there is still enormous room for reinvention. Being over 50 doesn’t mean that your most interesting idea, your greatest professional accomplishment, your next adventure—or even an entirely new version of yourself—is behind you.
Perhaps we need to stop looking at aging as a process of diminishing and start recognizing what is being added along the way.
I’m Italian, so naturally I’ll use wine as my metaphor: a good bottle isn’t trying to compete with the newest vintage. Given the right conditions, it develops complexity, character and depth with time.
So, to women over 50: don’t wait for someone else to recognize your vintage. Raise the glass to yourself. Salute!
Congratulations Vivana! It’s an honor to help you celebrate YOU and your journey and I’m so glad you said YES to yourself! Ciao Bella 🎉
NOTE: If you've been enjoying these stories, I'd love for you to join us at the 50 Over 50 Exhibition & Celebration on November 5th, 2026, where you'll be able to experience the portraits and stories of these remarkable women in person. Get your tickets here
